Jack O’Hare is runaway winner of club handicap

Congratulations to Jack O’Hare who ran extremely well on a cold and foggy evening to impressively win the annual club handicap by a handsome margin.  Jack started strongly and was able to hold off ‘guest’ athlete David O’Flaherty who was using the event to test a recurring injury.  By the three mile marker jack had established an unassailable lead, making full use of the generous handicap proffered by the committee.  He never faltered in the closing stages and won by a mighty 47 seconds.  He is already a marked man for next year and a repeat performance will be unlikely!Young Patrick Sheridan is wintering well under the tutelage of Coach Ian Brannigan and ran a very speedy sub-29 to finish second. 70 seconds separated the next 8 athletes, evidence of the hard preparatory work carried out by the Handicap committee – no scribbling names on the back of a fag packet at the last minute for this well-oiled machine.  Deon McNeilly was fastest man on the night, recording a very quick 28 minutes dead – not bad for a 50 year old.  Damien Brannigan, a stalwart of this event had another fine run to finish fourth and record a time well under 30 minutes, the traditional benchmark for a very good 5 mile run.  Watson, Kendall and Eamon McCrickard followed in quick procession, the latter the winner of a spot prize voucher for £30 generously sponsored by the Percy French – our thanks to them for the generous donation.  Donnelly and Toner were hot on their heels, both posting very respectable times just over the 30 minute mark.  PJ McCrickard, another man returning from a lay off due to injury produced a stellar performance to easily break 32 minutes, while Barry Wells, a multiple winner of the event was perhaps too heavily handicapped in light of his numerous victories when less shackled by the clock. Marty McVeigh, a man more at home on the bike these days, is another stalwart, always keen to support club events and performed very well indeed.

In a novel addition to the event there was an impromptu 3 mile variation.  Congratulations to Ian Brannigan who added to his already impressive haul of Transplant Games medals by securing a runaway victory in this race.  He was a class apart and out on his own in this event – well done Ian!

Finally a word of thanks to my co-organisers for the evening, Paul Rodgers, Ross McCrickard and Rebecca McCann

Club 5 Mile Handicap Race Results – Tuesday 10^th December 2012

Club Unofficial 3 Mile Handicap Race Results – Tuesday 10^th December 2012